Forum Ratifies Extended Validation SSL Guidelines

<p><strong>Jersey City, N.J. &mdash; June 12</strong><br />Comodo, a global certification authority and provider of identity and trust assurance management solutions, will immediately begin offering EV SSL certificates to sole proprietorships in light of the recent ratification of the EV SSL guidelines by the CA/Browser Forum. </p><p>This first ratification, two years in the making, is a milestone in the accessibility of authentication solutions for a wider range of businesses.<br /><br />Until now, EV was not available to sole proprietorships and noncorporations, as the validation process extended only to corporations registered with government agencies. </p><p>This put the sole proprietors at a disadvantage, as they did not have the budgets to create consumer trust through extensive brand-building programs involving advertising or running brick-and-mortar retail outlets. </p><p>Comodo, initiator of the CA/Brower Forum, was one of the key advocates for the extension of EV to sole proprietors, recognizing the greater level of trust they would get from EV certificates.</p><p>EV SSL builds on the trust that the marketplace has in traditional SSL protection by adding an additional layer, which enables the address bar in the browser to turn green, delivering visual authentication of a site&#39;s identity. </p><p>Site visitors increasingly are demanding this level of identity authentication and are apt to abandon sites that do not provide it. </p><p>Because EV protects users from doing business with sites that are not authentic, EV-protected sites can be more trusted, offering greater potential conversions rates, revenue and lifetime customer value.<br /><br />&quot;We are proud to be associated with these new standards for EV,&quot; said Melih Abdulhayoglu, Comodo president and CEO. &quot;As founder of the CA/B Forum, it was imperative for us to make EV available to noncorporations, as well. Now smaller companies can utilize this greater level of authentication to become more competitive.&quot;</p><p>Because of the stringent EV validation process, verifiable businesses will be able to obtain EV, and fraudsters will find it more difficult. </p><p>Only a certification authority can issue EV SSL certificate and before doing so, it must:</p><ul><li>Verify the legal, physical and operational existence of the entity.</li><li>Verify the identity of the entity matches official records.<br /></li><li>Verify the entity has the exclusive right to use the domain specified in the EV certificate.</li><li>Verify the entity has properly authorized the issuance of the EV certificate.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The standards also include rigorous auditing criteria, which certification authorities must meet to ensure their compliance and be allowed to issue EV certificates.</p>